Catching up-- starting with Colonial Williamsburg

Yikes! 2 months gone by without adding anything to the blog, you might get the impression that we haven't been up to much!  Instead these last two months have been filled with last minute trips in Virginia, packouts, the end of school (Kindergarten, 6th grade and Hindi class... guess who was the happiest to complete their school this year!), way too many goodbyes, a move to India (Greg) and travel and visiting with family (Kate, Conor and Ryan).  I will try to catch up the blog over the next few days as I have a little bit of down time now that we are settled in for a little while in Big Bear, but I will work my way forward so I keep all of the pictures in chronological order.
First up, our trip to Colonial Williamsburg. To jointly celebrate Mother's day and Greg passing his Hindi test and officially completing his language training (Yay him, and yay for us having a bit more time to spend together as a family now that he isn't under so much pressure!) we took a family trip to Colonial Williamsburg.  It was so much fun!  We ate dinner Saturday night at a traditional tavern with old-time recipes and a fife player for entertainment.  The boys enjoyed walking around seeing all of the people in period costume as well as the toy stores with old fashioned wooden toys.  We also enjoyed walking around a working farm where they only use tools and techniques that were available on a typical farm in the colonies.  This is one of those places that has been on our "to visit" list for years and we finally got around to it at just the right time.  Conor is learning so much more about US history this year than ever before, and it was nice experiencing this with him now when things make a little more sense to him.
Also, what a great way to spend Mother's Day with the family!  We stayed at the Woodlands Hotel, which is a part of the official historic Colonial Williamsburg properties, and which was a short and pleasant walk to the main historic attractions.
Why do we have pictures of the boys in stocks? Why not!

Greg posted this picture to Facebook, saying this was what happens to kids when they don't listen to their parents.  Conor's response: "but this is what happened to me when I did what dad asked me to!"  We need to be careful what lessons we teach our kids!

Ryan and Greg at the working farm, talking with a very interesting farmer.

 On the green, looking toward the Governor's Mansion.

Conor and Ryan at the farm.

Conor attended an auction to purchase Mother's day presents for me! He bid on and won a nice sterling silver hear necklace as well as a pretty blue and white china tea set. Here he is perusing the list of auction items and deciding what to bid on.